Control



Jan. 11, 1944.

D. R. STAPLES T AL CONTROL 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 5, 1941 Jan. 11, 1944.

D. R. STAPLES AL CONTROL Filed July 5, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CONTROL Dana R. Staples, Ridley Park, and Carl A. Ruckert, Clifton Heights, Pa., assignors to The Baldwin Locomotive Works, a corporation of Pennsylvania Application July 5, 1941, Serial No. 401,096

11 Claims.

This invention relates generally to apparatus for controlling the speed of internal combustion engines and more particularly for controlling the engine in its critical speed range.

In designing an internal Combustion engine to nalled at H to the upper end of shaft 4 and is meet particular conditions of service there usually slidably supported on top of a quadrant 12 which arises the problem of critical speeds. While this is suitably bolted to the bracket 2 and frame 2 problem can be oiten considerably reduced or by abolt, such as l3. minimized, yet quite frequently some particular Hand lever it, by reason of its freely jour critical speed is present at which it is desirable 1o nailed connection H, is incapable by itself of not to operate the engine for any substantial petransmitting any angular adjustment to shaft 4. riod. However, movement of hand lever [it is trans- It is one object of our invention to provide immitted to governor lever I through a pair of proved means whereby the operator is prevented springs l5 and it, Fig. 2, interposed between govfrom running the engine at a particular critical l5 ernor lever l and a pair of arms I! and 18 carried speed. by and projecting downwardly from lever It on Another object is to provide improved means opposite sides of lever i. To adjust the tension that requires no conscious efiort or thought on the of springs 15 and l ti suitable threaded seat mempart of the operator to avoid running the engine bers 18 may be formed in arms ll and 8 to reat a particular critical speed but at the same 20 ceive the springs. Movement of hand lever H1 in time allows him to have smooth continuous opeither direction will be transmitted through crating movement of his manual speed lever springs 55 or It to lever l and accordingly anguthroughout its full range of movement. larly move shaft 4.

A still further object is to provide an im- In order to have the engine speed pass rapidly proved critical speed controller that is relatively through a critical speed and to prevent the opsimple and economical in construction, operation erator from operating t engine at its critical and maintenance and that is sturdy and compact p m ns r p vi d for t mpo combined with sensitivity and maximum flexibility trieting movement of gov rnor lever "I j of operation, fore it reaches a predetermined or critical speed Other objects and advantages will be more apposition even though hand lever it continues to parent to those skilled in the art from the followbe mOVed- After a pre ete e t 0f ing description of the accompanying drawings in ual lever it beyond the critical spe p hi h; tion the governor lever l is automatically released Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view taken substanso as to suddenly o e governor shaft 5 to a tially on the line l-I of Fig.4; higher speed position above the critical speed.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken substantially T0 accomplish e foregoing peration, o nor on the lines 2-2 of Figs. 1 and 4; lever 1, Fig. 2, is provided with a small down- Fig. 3 is a section taken substantially on the W p p j n l9 adapted to engage a p lines 33 of Figs. 1 and 4; and 20 which projects upwardly into the path of pro- Fig. 4 is a plan view of our improved control. jection IS. The stop is p e y e ovable In the particular embodiment of the invention as by being formed on a bracket 2i secured by disclosed herein, we have shown a bracket l bolt 22 to the underside of stationary frame I. adapted to be mounted upon any suitable frame Hence, it is seen that when stops it and 20 enwork 2 of a locomotive or control box and having gage each other lever i cannot move even though a housing 3 in which a governor control shaft 4 is hand lever It may continue its movement, say in journalled. The lower end of this shalt may be a right hand direction. Such continued more connected by suitable arms and links 5 to any ment of hand lever it causes spring it to be comusual and well-known form of engine speed govpressed so that governor lever 1, when lifted about ernor (not shown) whereby the angular position its pivot 8, Fig. l, to clear stop it is moved conof shaft 4 and its arm 5 will determine the speed tinuously as well as rapidly by spring it to at hersetting of the governor and engine. mal central postion between the arms ii and The upper end of shaft 4 has a collar 8 rigidly l8. Control lever l upon reaching its central posecured thereto so as to support a vertically movsition between arms H and i8 is then subject to able control lever or member 1, specifically refurther actuation by hand lever i. This will ierred to herein as a governor lever, which is pivon quickly adjust the engine speed past its critical oted to collar 6 about a horizontal pin 8. A flat spring 9 biases lever l downwardly to the position shown in Fig. 1. Actuating means in the form of a hand operated speed lever it is freely jourpoint. To raise the lever l a pair of cam bolts 23 and 24 are adjustably threaded in the lower ends of arms ll and 18. These cam bolts have tapered inner ends adapted to engage cam surfaces 25 and 26 formed on the underside of governor lever 7 whereby during increasing speed of the engine the compression of spring 55 is released by pin 23 engaging cam surface 25 to raise governor lever '5. Conversely, when the engine speed is being reduced by movement of hand lever 10 in the opposite direction, then stop ill will engage the right hand side of stop fill, Fig. 2, and accordingly cause spring 5 to be compressed until lever '5 is released by engagement of cam bolt 2 1 with cam surface The released stored-up energy in spring l will th n suddently shift governor lever l past the critical speed position. Broadly, stop 26 and projection it constitute a releasable latch in which projection it is an axially movable portion or element carried by or formed as a part of the manual lever.

From the foregoing disclosure it is seen that the operator is unable to operate the engine at a predetermined speed such the critical speed and this is accomplished without causing the operator to stop movement of hand lever thereby giving him the feel of continuous speed control without incurring the objections of oper the critical speed or of slowly passing through he same.

In addition to the foregoing operations an idle stop pin ill, Fig. 1, may be placed in the path of movement of lever is by projecting upwardly through a suitable opening in quadrant ii. In order to stop the engine it is necessary to lower this pin whereupon lever is may then be moved against stop pin To lower idle pin ill it is pivotally connected as at 25 to a lever 30 while a spring 3! normally biases pin El to its upper idle position. Hence to stop the engine it is only necessary for the operator to lift lever Eiil, Fig. 1, thereby lowering pin 2? and then move hand lever it against stop lever 23. If it is desired to compel governor lever l to quickly follow hand lever lil except at the critical speed, a pin 32, Fig. l, slida'oly extends through governor lever l and into an opening 3 3 in lever ill. The lower end of pin rests upon a stationary cam sur-- face 33 whose low point occurs at the critical speed position thereby allowing the pin to fall out of opening and thereby permit governor lever l to be controlled by the stop lugs. When lever l is on either side of the critical speed position then cam 33 will move pin upwardly into aligned opening B l to make the governor lever l and hand lever ill operate as a positive unit.

From the foregoing disclosure it is seen that we have provided a critical speed controller that is relatively simple in construction, operation and maintenance and yet is positive and foolproof and completely removes from the control of the operator any possibility of running the engine at a critical speed while at the sam time permitting him to have the feel of smooth continuous control. In addition to the foregoing, the device is compact and rugged combined with a high degree of sensitivity of control and flexibility of operation.

it will of course be understood that various changes in detail. construction. and arrangement of parts he made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention set forth in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A controller comprising, in combination, a control member, manual means, means whereby said control member is adapted to move simultaneously with the movement of said manual means in either direction of movement throughout a predetermined range and yet allow relative movement between the control member and manual means during a portion of the movement of the latter intermediate of said predetermined range, means for controlling said control member as it approaches said intermediat portion so that continued movement of the manual means is not transmitted to said control member, and means for releasing said latter means so as to allow said control member to have said simultaneous movement with the manual means on either side of said intermediate portion after the manual means has passed therethrough.

2. A controller comprising, in combination, a control member, manual means, means for moving said control member simultaneously with said manual means through a predetermined range and for moving said control member more rapidly than the movement of said manual means through an intermediate portion of said range, and means for controlling said control member so that the manual means can move through said predetermined portion in either direction relative to said control member and after passing therethrough the control member can have its rapid movement through said intermediate portion and thereafter move simultaneously with the control member.

3. A controller comprising, in combination, a control member, means for actuating said control member so that it follows simultaneously the movement of said manual means in either direction throughout a predetermined range of operating conditions, and means for preventing movement of said control member during another predetermined operation of said actuating means and for releasing said control member to allow it to move continuously through a predetermined extent until it is subject to further actuation by said actuating means.

l. An engine speed controller comprising, in combination, means adapted to adjust the speed of an engine, operating means for said adjusting means, means for interconnecting said operating means and said adjusting means, whereby the operating means is adapted to be continuously operable throughout its range at all time, and mechanism for preventing said adjusting means from establishing a fixed adjustment at a critical engine speed even though said operating means i movable through a position that would normally produce said critical engine speed.

5. A controller comprising, in combination, a pair of cooperating levers one of which is manually operated, means for positively locking said levers together so that the second lever is directly actuated by said manual lever and for releasing said positive lock when said levers reach a predetermined position in their operation, means for preventing a predetermined movement of said second lever while movement of the manual lever continues, means for releasing said second lever after it is prevented from moving, and means for causing said second lever to move rapidly when released.

6. A controller comprising, in combination, a manual lover, a second lever, means for positively locking said levers together so that the second one is subject to direct actuation by the manual lever and has movement substantially identical thereto, means for unlocking said levers automatically at a predetermined position thereof, means whereby upon unlocking of said levers they are adapted automatically in response to a predetermined continued movement of said manual lever to have relative movement between each other, and means whereby said relative movement is at a different rate than the movement of the manual lever.

'7. A controller comprising, in combination, a manual lever, a second lever, means for positively locking said levers together so that the second one is subject to direct actuation by the manual lever and has movement substantially identical thereto, means for unlocking said levers automatically at a predetermined position thereof, means whereby upon unlocking of said levers they are adapted automatically in response to a predetermined continued movement of said manual lever to have relative movement between each other, and means whereby said relative movement is at a different rate than the movement of the manual leVer in either direction of operation of said manual lever.

8. A controller comprising, in combination, a shaft, a control lever rigidly secured thereto and having an outer movable end, a pivotally mounted manual lever having a pair of projections extending along each side of said control lever, springs interposed between said projections and said control lever whereby movement of said manual lever is adapted to transmit movement through said springs to said control lever, a latch mechanism adapted to prevent movement of said control lever during a predetermined position thereof, and means for releasing said latch to allow spring actuation of said control lever.

9. A controller comprising, in combination, a governor control shaft, a control lever secured thereto to rotate the same, a manual lever freely journalled on said shaft, yieldable means connecting said levers whereby movement may be transmitted from the manual lever to the con trol lever through said yieldable means, latching mechanism for interrupting movement of said control lever while still allowing movement of said manual lever thereby subjecting said yieldable means to an increasing force, and means for releasing said latching mechanism to allow said control lever to be quickly moved by said yieldable means.

10. A controller comprising, in combination, a governor control shaft, a control lever secured thereto to rotate the same about its axi and having an axially movable portion, a manual lever pivoted for movement independently of said control lever, yieldable means connecting said levers to transmit movement from the manual lever to the control lever, a stop element engageable with the movable portion of said control lever so as to interrupt movement thereof while still allowing movement of said manual lever, and means for raising said axially movable portion of said control lever thereby releasing engagement of said stop element and allowing movement of said control lever by said yieldable means.

11. A controller comprising, in combination, a shaft, a control lever secured to said shaft to angularly adjust the same, a manual lever adapted to have pivotal movement independently of said control lever, yieldable means interposed between said levers, stop elements one of which is carried by said control lever so as to interrupt movement thereof at a predetermined position, and means for effecting relative movement between said stop elements to release the same and allow said control lever to be moved by said yieldable means.

DANA R. STAPLES. CARL A. RUCKERT. 

